Reel World

-- FRANCIS BEACON Wine maker Francis Ford Coppola is no stranger to the Hollywood grapevine...or to running studios. Still, the Godfather director has been tight-lipped about reports that he's been tapped by MGM (where he's been a longtime board member) to become a corporate consigliere for the under-performing studio and its specialty-films division, United Artists. But he's opened at least a crack in the code of silence, admitting that he's been promoted to MGM's executive committee, which ''puts me in more of a position of authority regarding future decisions for both MGM and United Artists.'' According to a source close to the studio, one of Coppola's first duties is to oversee the reediting of director Walter Hill's $60 million sci-fi epic Supernova, starring James Spader. ''I'm helping with a few of the old projects which had creative difficulties in the past,'' Coppola says. MGM has no comment on his promotion or the status of Supernova -- but confirms that it will hit theaters Jan. 11.

-- THE DOTTED LINEUP Once the bastion of conspicuous consumption, Hollywood is now embracing the bulk discount: Warner Bros. and New Line are piggybacking the production on two of their prospective franchises. Directors Larry and Andy Wachowski will shoot the second and third installments of The Matrix -- for which star Keanu Reeves just inked a $30 million deal -- simultaneously, beginning next fall. Then there's the back-to-back-to-back schedule of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy for New Line, which just added Liv Tyler to its hobbity cast. According to New Line president of production Michael De Luca, principal photography on the Rings cycle will begin in October and should last 14 months. ''It's just cheaper and you get to maintain a certain creative continuity, so it's like one epic story,'' De Luca says. ''But the downside is if one of them tanks, you're stuck with two in the can.''